a simple tip :: repurposing old medicine cups

Rumor has it, Spring might actually be on its way here and is kicking Winter to the curb. Hopefully Winter will be taking the cold and flu season with it because I am done with having sick kids! Amen?

Have you ever noticed that after a long winter you find yourself with a stack of those little cups that come in children’s liquid medicines? What on earth do you do with them? Sure, you could throw them away but here are a few other ideas…

1. Measuring cups in the kitchen.
If you are cooking or baking with kids, you know they love to help put the ingredients together but using measuring spoons can be tricky for them. Use those old medicine cups to pre-measure teaspoon amounts of ingredients. The cups usually hold 3-4 teaspoons, have measurement marks on the sides, and are easy for kids to pour!

2. Bath tub fun.
Kids love the “pouring” game in the bathtub but sometimes that water gets poured right outside the tub. Using these little cups allows your little ones to experiment with pouring but the amounts are smaller and easier to clean up when it does go out the of the tub.

3. Paint or glue cups.
Medicine cups hold the perfect amount of paint or glue for craft time. If you have a few cups, then you can put a little squirt of different paint colors in each (saves you from washing them in between colors).

4. Tea party…doll sized!
No need to turn away guests at your next {play} tea party! Medicine cups are the perfect tea cup size for stuffed animals and dolls. Decorate them with a few stickers or use colored Sharpies to make them special for each “guest”. And they can still hold “tea”!

5. Tracing circles or making Play-Doh circles.
Use them as stencils to make little circles (two sizes — top and bottom of the cup), perfect for drawing snowmen, sunshines, flowers, smiley faces, and more! Or use them to stamp out circle shapes in Play-Doh or clay.

6. “Make your own crayon” molds.
Save those broken or “too small” crayons and create new crayons using medicine cups as your molds. Simply line a muffin tin with foil cupcake wrappers. Place the crayon bits in the tins (one color per tin). Heat the oven to 250-275 degrees. Put the muffin tins and crayons in the oven, occasionally stirring the melting crayons with a tooth pick. Pour the melted crayons into the medicine cups and let them harden. Pop them out and start coloring!

*Hint: To create these rainbow crayons, I poured one color in at a time, letting the crayon cool between each color layer.*

Do you have other ways to reuse those old medicine cups? Or am I the only crazy one that keeps the little cups around after the medicine is gone?